A Bittersweet Irony
by Mr Scrone
Summary: What do you do when you're afraid of pokemon, scorn pokemon trainers and you lose your family and all worldly possessions to a pokemon attack? Why, you start a pokemon journey of course! Sometimes irony can be just Bittersweet.
1. A Bittersweet Beginning

I never wanted Pokemon as a child.

No, due to an unfortunate incident with an angry Poochyena I felt something akin to fear every time they came near me, so when I found myself standing in Oaks laboratory not three days after my fourteenth birthday holding a tiny red and white ball in my hands, surrounded by ten year olds who kept giving me weird looks… well, I'm sure you can imagine my chagrin. But I guess freak Onix attacks which bury your house and family beneath two tonnes of rubble tend to put things into perspective.

In any case back to the story at hand; Oak was rambling on about the Pokemon world and how this journey we were about to undertake would change our lives, but for me it was all in one ear and out the other. Not for the other kids though, the group of us all standing there on the white marble floor, blinded by the blaring lights behind the Professor, giving him the appearance of something grand. No, those naïve kids would take in every word, write it down, get it tattooed over their fucking ass cheeks, and then when they all ended up being slowly digested by wild Victreebel, or freezing to death, starving and weak, they'd put it on their gravestones: "Here lies little Tommy from Viridian City. He may have been gored by a swarm of angry Beedrill at the tender age of ten, but gosh darn it was he having an adventure."

A cough brought me out of my musings, and it wasn't until I noticed everyone was looking at me that I realised the professor had finished. Staring down at me with that same look everyone else wore, pity mixed with dislike, he folded his arms and waited.

_Shit! He must've asked me a question, quick, improvise! _"…No?"

A snicker from my right told me I had missed my mark, though fortunately for the little shit I couldn't identify the culprit.

"So you _don't _think that it's important to stock up on antidotes before leaving?" There was that look again. Pitying. Distrusting. Taunting me.

"Well what poisonous Pokemon are we going to encounter on our way to Viridian City?" A flush of red across oaks neck told me I'd scored a good hit.

"Well not in the wild, but that's _nothing _to say you won't encounter trainers with poisonous Pokemon on your way, and then what will you do, whilst your partner is slowly dying?"

I knew I should have resisted the urge to fight, but I'd had it with Oak and his smug demeanour, pitying looks and god damned blinding laboratory lights! "And just how many trainers will be carrying poisonous Pokemon on the route between Viridian and Pallet town? Is this a common occurrence?"

"Well no-"

"And would any of us even accept a challenge from a higher level trainer who by some miracle is travelling on the newbie route and feeling like picking on beginners?"

"Wild Pokemon have been known to migrate territories, and Viridian Forest is not too far from-"

"You don't happen to mean the same Viridian forest patrolled by rangers to make sure dangerous Pokemon don't migrate by any chance?" I folded my arms to copy Oaks stance.

His face now a full shade of maroon, the professor glared at me, then at the other kids, (who at this time had been watching our argument like observers of a tennis match) before shoving a red device into my hands and (barely) avoiding screaming, "Get out!"

My footsteps echoed throughout the laboratory as I exited, head held high and smug grin on my face masking the fear I felt inside. _Good job Nat, piss off the guy who could best help you survive on this fucking journey, some trainer you're turning out to be._

An obnoxiously loud _slam _signalled the door had shut behind me, reminding me how finite my decision was. "I just hope it was the right one", my parting words as I left the laboratory steps and began my first day as a trainer.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-(THIS IS A LINE BREAK)-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

My first day as a trainer taught me two things:  
1. Pallet Town had two exits, a north and a south one.  
2. My compass was fucking broken.

So as I stood there on the shores of Pallet Town's south beach, it occurred to me that the only logical choice of action was to throw it in the ocean… unfortunately this happened to be at the same time a local police officer was strolling past, which is the story of how I ended up with a $200 littering fine on the wrong side of Pallet, on my first day as a Pokemon trainer.

"Route 21. Yep, I definitely have to remember that for when I tell this to my grandchildren", I muttered to no one in particular, just aiming it in the general direction of the sea. The sea, unsurprisingly, was not impressed.

"Well I suppose now is a good a time as any to see what Oak stuck me with", I levelled the red and white ball, staring at it like I could discern its contents through second sight, "Whatever you are, you had better be worth it, considering how much I paid for you. Knowing that sick old bastard, he probably imported a Poochyena just for me." I barely managed to suppress a shudder; my pokeball's response was as animated as the sea's.

I aimed my pokeball in front of me and took a deep breath. Then another one, just for luck. And a third, cause after all, 'third times the charm', right?

Steeling my nerves I levelled my pokeball once more and took the only reasonable course of action. I threw it in front of me, then jumped behind a boulder as my starter materialised.

A red flash and ensuing "bibbbiiriiiiiibiiii" or… you know… something like that, told me it was time to look.

Tentatively peeking around my hiding place, my jaw dropped.

"That son of a bitch."

Standing in at a total of half a meter, with two giant red bug-eyes, a pair of enlarged antennae and absolutely, horrendously, covered in more purple fuzz than should be allowed, was my starter Pokemon. A fucking Venonat. I just knew this was some sort of sick joke about my name, "_Har Har lets give Nat a Gnat for a starter pokemon!" _I really had to give that old bastard a bitch slap when I saw him next._  
_

"Well at least you're not a Poochyena." More inspiring first words could not have been found.

My Venonat just looked at me with its dead, buggy, red eyes (cause THAT'S not going to get creepy anytime soon) and chirruped again.

A quick Pokedex check revealed it to be a female, knowing the moves Tackle, Foresight and Disable, and, oh yeah, did I mention that it was a FUCKING VENONAT?!

Unimpressed with my internal tantrum-slash-freak out, my Venonat started hopping around the sand; fascinated by the way its footprints seemed to follow it. A stray Caterpie was slowly making its way up the boulder to my left, when, faster than I'd have thought possible, my Venonat lunged, used its teeth the grab it by the neck and with a sickening _CRUNCH _started sucking up the insides of the now semi-decapitated insect.

Yeah, that was pretty impressive.

"Let the world's small insects fear us Venonat, for this day I dub thee Artemis. Goddess of hunt! Mistress of twilight! Maiden of Moon!"

My Venonat ripped the Caterpie's head off and chirped.

"Excellent."


	2. A Bittersweet Nightmare

Artemis and I got along like two flowers in a field… that is to say we didn't really associate with each other much at all.

With the weather being so nice (and me being all tuckered out from a big day of shouting and naming pokemon) I just decided to bog down on the beach for the night, and the best part was I didn't need to feed Artemis, who seemed to be satisfied by her Caterpie cadaver.

That first night taught me, perhaps the most important lesson of my early journey; Artemis was a nocturnal creature, a fact which would come to shape my entire training career.

Actually no, scratch that, the most, MOST important lesson I learnt was that Artemis figured out how to work the switch of my flashlight almost instantly (to the degree that I suspected Oak had specifically trained her as such), and had the annoying habit of pointing it at my face.

That evil little, purple ball of fuzz sure had a nasty streak.

It was with groggy eyes that I woke the next morning, 'accidentally' kicking my little starter as I was rolling up my sleeping bag and vowing to find a deep whole to drop that torch into.

Needless to say neither of us had a very good morning, and it wasn't until midday that I'd managed to manoeuvre my way to the beginning of route 1, finishing off the last of my energy bar, and being careful not to be seen dropping the wrapper onto the ground. $200 fines be damned.

More than glad to leave this little shitstain of a town behind, I headed off into the infamously backwater route 1.

I won't bore you with the details of my first few weeks as a trainer, the short version as follows; I walked, ate, pissed, and slept.

I did put what I had learnt about Artemis's hunting cycle to use though, waiting until sundown to release her from her pokeball, and spending a few hours training her on the Rattata and Caterpie who seemed the most curious about us. Thanks to her poison typing we actually managed to take care of the odd Pidgey too, it's just a shame they were usually too toxic to eat, another little titbit I wish I'd known earlier, if only to save myself the horror of explosive diarrhoea in the middle of a forest.

But in all seriousness those first few weeks were some of the most interesting of my whole training career, and I learnt volumes about my psychotic little huntress. She was somewhat small for her species, and yet seemed to make up for it by being constantly hostile, which was more than fine by me, if I was going to be using her to battle other pokemon for money I'd much rather her want blood than to hold hands and sing 'Koombaya'.

It was also impossible to sneak up on her from any direction, as I had learnt when trying to pay her back for yet another night time torch show. I'd been so stealthy too, making no noises, walking on the balls of my feet, yet nothing seemed to get past her radar system, as the moment I came within striking distance she pivoted on one foot then tackled me right in the groin.

Fortunately for me she was not a morning pokemon, giving me ample opportunities for wake up calls. Retribution thou art just.

And thus our relationship went on this way, a constant game of one-upmanship, and probably would have remained that way too if not for the first time Artemis lost a battle.

-_(I AM A LINE BREAK. PAY NO ATTENTION TO ME)-

"Do I feel like 2 minute noodles for dinner or an energy bar?"

"Brrribibirrirbiirbiii" I still had to work on understanding her.

"Hmm, though you make a good point, I'd much rather have the noodles now when I've got time to heat them up, instead of munching on dry noodles for breakfast."

Artemis just gave me her dead, buggy, stare, then headed off for a bit of hunting, and so we'd have repeated the same ritual as every other night had she not been so vicious.

Though I'm not too sure on the details, and doubt I ever will be, I've gathered that she was snooping around a tree looking for an easy meal when she picked up a Spearow on her radar. Seeing a lone Spearow in the forest should have been warning enough, but as of yet she'd spent her whole life domesticated and didn't know the cardinal rule.

I'll always blame myself for not coming when I heard the shrieks, but I honestly can't even remember what it was that had me so disinterested, maybe I was tired or just assumed she'd caught an unusually vocal Pidgey, however when I heard what could only be the sound of Artemis in pain (perhaps a testament to how much closer we had bonded than I realised), I sprinted.

It took me a painfully long few minutes before I found her, valiantly facing down a flock of Spearow, visible wounds and matted fuzz, and it had been anger which gave me strength to pick up a branch and send the closest of the flying rats tumbling to the ground.

All my fears and insecurities rattled around in my head, and perhaps would have overpowered me had it not been for a stronger voice I heard. Artemis's.

Previously unknown fire fuelled me as I wielded my makeshift weapon, almost never landing a direct blow on the far nimbler Spearow; I didn't care, for all I knew, I was Achilles at the wall of Troy, and these Spearow my Hector, for each missed stroke only fuelled my rage. And so our dance continued, I would swing then duck, lunge and parry, all the while keeping the attention off Artemis.

An amount of time later, perhaps minutes, perhaps hours, I wouldn't be able to tell you, the Spearow either lay wounded or scattered, my club had long since disintegrated into a splintered handle and I finally felt the exhaustion my body had been holding back. I don't even remember the trek back, just the warm embrace of my sleeping bag and Artemis's red eyes watching me.

Dead and buggy I had called them.

Funny how comforting I now found them. Not dead, but Intelligent. Not buggy but… okay yeah they still looked buggy, but a good buggy, a vigilant buggy. I knew that those eyes would watch me whilst I slept and for the first time the thought didn't give me Goosebumps.

I slept better that night than I had for far longer than I realised.

-(LB)-

Artemis's trust came at a price, something I realised instantly upon waking up to a symphony of pain the next morning. A worthwhile trade? I'm still debating.

Just as I'd predicted, Artemis stood there watching me, and it wasn't until I saw her in the sunlight that I noticed the true extent of her wounds; Amidst the numerous gashes on her fur, one of her eyes had a large scabby cut right down the center, she seemed to be favouring one side more than the other, but perhaps most alarming of all was the obviously bent antennae which drooped down as if it knew the futility of its situation.

She was a mess, and yet she'd stood vigilant all night for me.

I levelled her gaze, no small feat when considering her compound eyes, and managed to get one word out from between my bloodied lips, "Good." That is the day I consider to be the beginning of our journey, the day we became partners.

I did my best to patch her up with the potions i had on me, but she needed professional attention, so I recalled her to her ball and packed up my camp. The cuts all over me too numerous to count, and each one rivalled with a bruise of equal size. I suppose we were lucky to be close to the end of the forest; I shudder to think what would have happened had we been in the midst of it.

My footsteps kept me going, and without noticing I found myself counting steps, which was perhaps the reason why I wasn't focusing on the path as much as I ought to, and didn't realise what I'd stumbled upon until it had caused me to tumble face first into the ground.

From my peripherals I saw a boot jutting out across the path; This was no accident.

Renewed vigour flowed through me giving me the strength to sit up, "What the FUCK do you think you're doing you pain in the… oh."

Jutting out from the undergrowth next to the path lay a pair of legs with heavy hiking boots. Just the legs. A quick scope of the surroundings revealed what remained of their owner.

In two words? Not much.

_Now I _really _have to get out of here._

Stories of ghosts and other nefarious pokemon who liked to rip apart young trainers pranced around my mind, almost gleefully malicious. I didn't see what caused the injuries and for the life of me I didn't give two fucks if it _was_ ghosts, backpedalling away from the scene so fast I didn't even see the torso behind me and for the second time, fell flat on my face.

A closer inspection of the torso and head revealed it to be one of the kids at Oak's lab the day before, and again I surveyed my surroundings. Nothing moved. Alarmingly so.

My instincts _screamed _at me to run, but there was just one more thing I had to check, and giving a final glance of the surroundings, I grimaced and reached into his pockets, taking out one pokeball. I'm not proud of it, and wouldn't admit so, but I took his wallet too, just as a _SNAP _came from the direction I'd come and at last the final vestiges of control I possessed fled. I ran down the path and didn't stop or look back until the lights of Viridian embraced me much softer than any bed could.

That's the story of how I came to fear route 1.

And how I looted a dead ten year old kid's corpse.


	3. A Bittersweet Meeting

**Mr Scrone here, just in case anyone has decided to read this far, I never got around to saying that this story is part of a competition i'm having with RedCheschireQueen, and I do intend to have my drinks bought for me XD  
****If you're looking for a good read her fic can be found here: s/10421070/1/Rage  
****Also i dont own the pokemon, or make any claim to.**

I don't even remember the journey to the pokemon centre, just handing my pokeballs over to the nurse on duty, whilst booking a room upstairs for myself. It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that I eventually worked up the courage to come down and eat. A nurse informed me that Artemis was in intensive care, but fortunately the danger had passed, all she needed now was rest. She also told me my other pokemon was fine to pick up, and it took a while for me to register what she meant. I took my looted pokemon back and held onto it with no other options available to me, though I didn't dare release it.

For 3 days I didn't even leave the pokemon centre, and ashamedly, it had nothing to do with Artemis's recovery. Most of my days had me waking up covered in cold sweat; a bad habit that would take me years to quit. I'd have probably stayed there longer too, stewing in my own paranoia and insecurity, if not for the single greatest and worst meeting of my entire life.

There was this one wall in the centre that I would spend hours staring at, an otherwise unremarkable notice board, except for the fact that it had been set up solely for dozens of missing persons notices. Missing _children's _notices.

I wondered, how long until the boy I'd run into was added to the list of missing children, just another face on a wall, nobody caring to look for him, nor daring to hope for him.

My hand was shaking by its own accord, "I don't even know why I bothered with this journey. I'm out of my depth."

Mulling over the choices that had led me to be here, I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of a voice right next to me, "Hey kid, how do I get to the pokemon mart from here?"

A pink blob was honestly my first impression of him, which turns out was actually quite an apt description of the teenage boy who had just come up on my right. From his (glaringly) obvious dyed pink hair to the pink overcoat he was wearing and straight down to the massive pink pack he had hefted on one shoulder. He was an advocate of his favourite colour. And a master of subtlety.

He cleared his throat expecting an answer. I instead told him, "You're wearing an awful lot of pink", before turning my back on him and returning to my musings of lost children.

Never one to back down from a fight (as it turns out), and intensely competitive by nature, he stomped around to my front, then promptly huffed and turned _his _back on _me!_

The nerve of some people!

In retaliation I made something sounding like, "aauauuuccghh".

"AAUAUUUCCGHH!" was his response, a perfect (albeit louder) mimicry of my previous articulation. I couldn't help but glare my eyes.

Done with this little game, I stalked away to a different side of the pokemon centre and grouchily took out my Pokedex, scanning through the list, and pretending to be engrossed with the habitats of Rattata all over Kanto.

"AND _YOU'RE_ WEARING AN AWFUL LOT OF BLUE!" A shout resonated from across the centre, shocking me enough to drop my Pokedex.

"EX_CUSE ME_?!" I practically shrieked.

"YOU HEARD ME BLUE BOY!"

I had a black jacket on, khaki pants and brown hiking boots. The only blue on me was my half hidden blue shirt, and even _that _wasn't really blue! It was navy! A fact which I yelled back at him in a higher octave than I'd have liked.

"NAVY _IS _BLUE YOU MORON!" Came his retort.

"NAVY IS NAVY! IF NAVY WAS BLUE THEN IT WOULD BE CALLED _BLUE!"_

"NAVY IS A SHADE OF BLUE, LIKE MORON IS A SYNONYM OF STUPID!"

"MORON IS A NOUN AND STUPID IS A VERB, THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS THEIR FITTING DESCRIPTIONS OF YOU!"

And so our shouting match continued, the hapless onlookers of the pokemon centre both trying to ignore us and also pay vivid attention to the spectacle. It wasn't until a nurse dragged us both by the ear out to the curb that we eventually settled down. Also because I'd won.

"Nice going _Blue. _Now are you going to take me to the pokemon mart or not?"

I'd long since been glaring daggers at this pain in my ass, to little effect it seemed, and so with nothing else to do for the moment, I headed for the pokemon mart. Making sure to audibly grumble about pink wearing hermaphroditic, shit eating, half witted, butt munching, annoying sons of Grimer. My new friend didn't mind though, for all I knew he seemed to enjoy the attention.

The journey itself was less than interesting, the pokemon mart and pokemon centre were really close to one another, a fact which I'd learnt on my first trek through Viridian a month or so ago. Back then I'd been mentally preparing for every situation being a trainer could throw my way. Escorting pink clad pricks was undoubtedly not what I had predicted.

I did notice that he was a pokemon trainer when I saw him buying pokeballs and other necessary travelling items (if only acceptable attire had been on his list of necessities), and figured he had to be a pretty good one too when I saw the wads of cash he had no doubt won from pokemon battles. Unless if they were from newbie trainers; he seemed like the real slime ball type.

I guessed he'd spent the trip feeling guilty about getting me thrown out (just as well, considering it was all his fault), because he offered to buy me lunch after he was done shopping, and never one to turn down a free meal, I graciously accepted… by ordering the most expensive, most unappetizing thing on the menu. I was Mew-damned magnanimous.

"You're a beginner aren't you?" his question came out half lost around his club sandwich.

My stomach grumbled as I glared at my own Parasect 'Mushroom Delicacy', which was nigh untouched. "I started almost three weeks ago."

"How many pokemon have you caught?"

"None." I tried to convey my unwillingness to talk about the subject, but as per usual this guy (whom by now I learnt was called Cooper. A hammy name if ever there was one) either didn't notice or didn't care about hints.

"That's cool, there aren't that many interesting pokemon around here anyway, unless you have, like, a weird Rattata fetish, or I suppose the odd Mankey has been seen just off from Route 22." He motioned to my belt where I still had the pokeball of the pokemon I looted, "So is that your starter? What is it? Actually, battle me so that I can see it!"

"My starter is back at the pokemon centre in intensive care."

"Oh." That at least managed to get him to shut up for a time, as he munched on his sandwich a little more. Tentatively, as if he were considering each word before he spoke, he began again, "So, you said you hadn't caught any pokemon yet? What about…" He motioned once again to my belt.

_SHIT! _Cursing my lack of foresight, I leant back in my chair to give the appearance on nonchalance, "That was a gift." I said cryptically.

"What pokemon is it?"

_DOUBE SHIT! _"The shut-up-or-I'm-going-to-hit-you pokemon."

Far from the desired effect of shutting him up, this merely seemed to feed his energy, a goofy smile returning to his face, he lunged at it so unexpectedly that I fell back in my chair singing a chorus of "Fuckyouuuuuuu" all the way down. Unperturbed by my predicament he made another lunge for it, and thus began the most stressful game of keep-away, I'd ever had to play, leading all the way from the café we'd been at to some park halfway across Viridian, where he stopped mid stride.

"I think we just stole a free meal." We had indeed left before paying for our food (if that's what you want to call my Parasect Mushroom Delicacy). A glance passed between us, when before we knew it, we were cackling like old women, leaning against one another... for only a short time, until I came to my senses and pushed him flat on his ass, I mean he _had _gotten me kicked out of the pokemon centre after all.

With as much grace as an elderly Muk, he got back to his feet, "This has been sweet, but I actually do have things I need to do before it gets dark. And you should work on training that pokemon of yours, I still want that battle." I bit back the retort I was thinking, "I'll catch you round… uh, I don't think I got your name?"

"Nat. People call me Nat"

"Catch you later Nat", and with a wave Cooper headed off, leaving me with one less of an eye sore, and one big dilemma at my belt. I unclipped my pokeball and with an odd sense of déjà vu, tried to discern what pokemon was inside.

"I could just send you back to Oak," I informed it. "Tell him I found it on Route 1 and be done with it." Fat chance of that, I knew. I couldn't just return the starter of a missing trainer and expect to be allowed to go on my merry way. "Well then in that case I should just sell you, or drop you in a garbage can somewhere".

Once more I peered into the red depths of the ball, looking for any sign or indication of its contents. This thing connected me to the scene of a bloody and highly suspicious murder. Had I any common sense I should just drop it in the grass and leave. I didn't owe this pokemon anything. Nodding to myself, I held the ball aloft, and dropped it.

And in perhaps the most fortunate twist of my early career the ball landed face down, the small button in its centre was pressed and out came, what was to become the second member of my pokemon team.

A little white Meowth.

Now I won't give you any lies about how its big round eyes or soft purring melted my heart, as if I were Scrooge himself, in all honesty I'd probably known that I would keep it the moment I looted the damned thing. Trained pokemon were hard enough to come by, and finding one for free was better than lucky (despite the somewhat mentally scarring, nightmare inducing situation). Even still, it wasn't until I had spent a good few hours training with her, and witnessed the sharpness of her claws when I tried to pick her up (at least I didn't get it as bad as the Rattata that got too curious) she had become mine. I supposed her previous trainer hadn't done much work with her. By the time I started heading back to the pokemon centre I was enamoured. She was a tad snooty, completely vain and perfectly deadly. And what can I say? Her big round eyes and soft purring really did melt my heart.

And that's the story of how I met Felicity the Meowth.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -(LINEBREAK)- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Despite his promise of a pokemon battle, I didn't actually see Cooper for a few more days, by which time Artemis had fully recovered and I was getting ready to head out to Viridian Forest. I had put so much time into training Felicity too. It was by pure dumb luck that we both happened to be heading out on the same day when we ran into one another.

I noticed him before he noticed me, (it might have been the hair) he was on the outskirts of Viridian being lectured by some decrepit old bastard on how to throw a pokeball. Determined not to get caught up by perhaps one of the few people more annoying than Cooper, I marched right up to the old man (who was blocking the only exit towards Viridian Forest like a chump), and palmed him to the side, not even breaking stride, resulting in a barrage of insults from his general direction.

It wasn't until a particularly heinous remark about my mother and a group of rowdy Tauros that I turned to face him, holding Felicity's ball in my hand. I may be a number of things, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let some old perv with a bad habit of harassing children talk smack about my mother. On the verge of releasing the true power of my Meowth's kitty wrath, that old sack of shit was lucky Cooper dragged me away by the arm.

Some distance away, I finally stopped resisting, rounding on Cooper. He had forgone his more flamboyant outfit (thankfully) for something a bit more practical, wearing a dark olive jacket over army camouflage pants and a plain black tee. His hair unfortunately, remained its usual vivacious self, remarkably reminiscent of a sugar rush. Short at the back with a long, messy front and top (no doubt gelled up), there was just no denying it. Cooper was an attention whore.

"Isn't there some rule about mixing pink and green?" I eyed his hair and jacket.

His usual, unreasonably broad smile splayed out across his face, "Not for me!"

I fixed him with my best 'I am so done with this shit' stare, before asking, "What are you even doing out here?" Begging whatever pokemon gods existed that he wasn't heading through Viridian Forest.

"Heading out through Viridian Forest, it's the only way to Pewter" _CRAP! _"You're not going that way too are you?" An evil smile (okay maybe it wasn't intentionally evil, but Mew dammit did I interpret as so) danced across his face.

"No."

"You totally _are! _This is perfect! I _hate _travelling alone, I mean, I know I've got pokemon, but there's only so much conversation they can provide, you know?"

"No."

"There's safety in numbers too!"

"I'm not travelling with you."

"What's to stop me from following you?"

I didn't respond. I _couldn't. _There was absolutely nothing stopping him from following me, especially considering he was a higher level trainer. He had me in a jam, so acting with poise and grace, I nodded once, kicked him in the shin, then bolted down the road.

I'd have lost him too if the world hadn't suddenly become tipped upside down. Looking down (or up) at my feet, I was being held upside down by a Machoke of all pokemon, whilst Cooper was casually strolling towards us, tears streaming down his face from laughing so hard.

"You should have seen your face! Oh boy!" He stopped to catch his breath, paused for a moment, and began a new round of hysterics, "You looked like a Jigglypuff! Your eyes! Oh Mew, your eyes were so wide!"

My glaring seemed to have little effect on him, and even less on his Machoke, who just picked its nose with its free hand disinterested.

Eventually when he'd calmed himself a bit, Cooper told Machoke to let me down gently, and despite a dizzying rush of blood to my head, I managed to stand myself up without tipping over from nausea, look Cooper square in the eye and flip him off, with my usual aura of elegance and serenity. He didn't deserve my words.

I was about to aim a second kick for a much more tender spot of his, Machoke or no Machoke, when he spoke perhaps the only phrase to stop me in my tracks.

"How about we settle it with a pokemon battle?"


	4. A Bittersweet Battle

**Mr Scrone checking in: Im feeling a lot better about this chapter, it feels less wordy and actually gets some real shit done (instead of fluffing around). I also happen to own nuttin.  
**

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, just a simple pokemon battle."

"And if I win you'll leave me to get through Viridian Forest on my own?"

"You have my word of honour", he held up his right hand, as if making an oath.

I leered at him suspiciously. "What happens if you win?"

A wicked grin spread across his face, "Sex slave?" Face paling I shook my head, not immediately realising he was joking (though he seemed like the type of creep to have sex with younger kids). He cackled at my reaction (perhaps a tad _too _animatedly to seem natural) and continued, "Well in that case I'll just make do with following you through the Forest, making your time in one of the most dangerous places in Kanto feel like a holiday." Two red pokeballs appeared in each of his hands, "So let's begin."

A red flash of light followed by another announced the arrival of his pokemon; A brown spiked armadillo with massive claws on each hand materialised next to a tubby yellow duck, with a blank unthinking stare (though to me it seemed to be pondering the reasons of the universe). Sandslash and Psyduck. "How does a two on two sound? I want to make it to the Forest by sunset."

My days in pokemon class told me that his pokemon were ground and water, but not much else (curse you Mr Jennings and your distracting ties!). In any case, I knew I wasn't at any sort of type advantage; I was more worried about how Artemis and Felicity would react to one another. Felicity would have no problems so long as Artemis didn't get in her personal space but Artemis was a bit of a wildcard. Persistently aggressive and not prone to taking orders, I worried how she would go in a team environment. I shrugged my shoulders then released them both; after all they would have to learn to get along eventually.

Felicity yawned then began licking her paws, cool as a cucumber, meanwhile Artemis, ever alert, stiffened and took in the pokemon across from her and Felicity, then Felicity herself, before turning to me and giving me the closest thing to an 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me' face, I'd ever seen on an insect. It would actually have been pretty humorous if there wasn't so much riding on this battle.

I stared her down, "Deal with it," then looked up to Cooper who was rattling off some rules. Rules are for suckers. "Artemis use confusion!" I ordered, surprising Cooper, and Artemis surprising me more by actually listening!

Waves of psychic energy rippled out across the battlefield putting his Sandslash, Psyduck and Machoke, along with Cooper himself and Felicity all in painful positions. "Focus yourself!" I ordered, but Artemis either didn't listen or didn't care, and it wasn't until Felicity raked her across the side with a vindictive scratch attack that she finally let up.

Cooper shook his head and returned his Machoke, who was on the verge of charging me down, before shouting "Interesting strategy." I grumbled something in response. "Now Sonic, use dig!" His Sandslash leant down, then immediately tunnelled underground, whilst his Psyduck stood back collecting itself after the psychic onslaught.

I tried ordering my pokemon to move, to about as much effect as a Magikarp's tackle. Artemis had not taken to Felicity's intervention well, and rounded on the white cat, using her disable to pin the far nimbler pokemon down before coming in for a full bodied tackle. Felicity to her own credit had taken note of the bug's strategy, and proceeded to fake immobilisation in order to get in close enough range to unleash the full damage of her teeth and claws.

After a few seconds of me screaming for them to break it up Artemis twitched, then shocking both Felicity and myself, leapt as far back as her little feet would take her, no doubt sensing Sonic on her radar. Felicity unfortunately, due to a succession of disable attacks had far less mobility than usual, and as the ground started cracking beneath her, barely had enough time to hiss before being launched backwards by the brunt of Sonic's dig attack, who then proceeded to lunge on her with a series of fury swipes.

"Artemis help her!" I screeched, regretting it instantly as a barrage of confusion blasted both pokemon apart, doing more damage to the exhausted Meowth then her much fresher adversary.

Fortunately, Sonic rounded on Artemis instead of the much weaker Meowth who prowled around the sidelines equally wary of both pokemon. "Get back underground," I heard Cooper order, Sonic however stayed focused on his fuzzy enemy, and it wasn't until he lunged into a fury swipes, about 2 feet from where Artemis was standing that I realised he had been afflicted with confusion, warping his senses.

"It's confused, go in now! Tackle attack!" Artemis needing no encouragement charged forward, landing a direct hit and sending the Sandslash tumbling backwards. She rushed in for another attack when a jet of water smashed into her from the side, taking her by surprise. Psyduck must have recovered from its headache, which meant bad news for me!

"Keep it up Homer! Don't give the Venonat a chance to breath!" More and more water jets smashed into Artemis, sending her further and further back with each strike, and giving Cooper's Sandslash ample time to dive back to the relative safety of underground.

"Felicity, you need to get that Psyduck's attention off of Artemis!" I motioned to the yellow blob attacking my starter. Felicity didn't even dignify me with a response, and I knew she must've seen my frantic waving, however the proud little shit just kept prowling around the battle field, occasionally stopping to lick her paw. She even looked like she was about to pounce on Artemis after a particularly rough water jet when the ground beneath her erupted and Sandslash came lunging out like before, sending Felicity hissing across the battle field.

When she failed to rise I knew it was over, and clenching my jaw, I returned her to her pokeball.

Another particularly powerful water gun hit Artemis square in the face, when she must've cracked, and all else seemed to black out in a blanket of noise and pain! Waves danced before my vision, and the battlefield started tipping, originating from the direction of Artemis who was in the middle of a massive confusion attack. I barely managed to take out my pokeball and return her before my head split open!

It took me a few seconds to realise I'd lost the battle.

And then another few seconds to realise that I'd be spending the next month with Cooper.

I almost wish my head _had _exploded.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -(LINEBREAK)- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -**  
**

Cooper sauntered up to me after returning and thanking his pokemon, the most infuriatingly genuine grin on his face (that smug son of a bitch). "Good fight, though you might want to work on introducing your pokemon to one another before making them battle together," he paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, "actually it might be best to let this blow over a bit before letting them out at the same time. That Venonat of yours is a real piece of work too, maybe you could consider conditioning her."

"Artemis is fine just the way she is." I deadpanned.

Cooper grimaced, "Ah, yes, sometimes people have trouble finding fault with their starter." He shrugged, and then headed off.

The seriousness of his tone caught me completely off guard, and running a bit to catch up I argued, "I know exactly what Artemis's faults are. She's a cranky, antisocial little ball of purple fuzz with a mean streak longer than a Rapidash cock. And that's exactly how I like her if I'm going to make a living from her beating up other pokemon."

Without turning around Cooper replied, "But those aren't traits of a trained pokemon. If you're commissioned as a bodyguard what do you expect to do with a pokemon more likely to attack people than to guard them? There's more to pokemon training than just all out slugfests."

I had to power walk to keep up with Cooper's larger strides, "if I wanted to be a bodyguard I wouldn't have become a trainer." And to make my point clear I sped up to walk in front of Cooper.

Amused by my response, Cooper retorted, "Did you even want to become a pokemon trainer?" I said nothing, indicating my willingness to talk about the subject. Cooper oblivious as always just chatted away, "I wanted to be a trainer for years before I started, the way they command respect from everyone, and walk the line between wild and tame. To live like a human and a pokemon at the same time. That and all the girls of course."

"Just how old _are _you?"

"Not a day over Fifty."

I stopped to look at him, realising he was smiling like a Gengar, and pointedly rolled my eyes slowly enough for him to see. "And where do you get off telling me what's wrong with my starter?"

Somehow his grinned widened still, "If you want my advice then I'd work on getting her to listen to your orders. She already trusts you, that much is obvious," I hadn't even realised it myself, "Just do some actual training, instead of letting her wander off and hunt weaker pokemon, work with her, just, like, attacking a tree or something."

I hated to admit that I was seeing a new side to Cooper, a more thoughtful and experienced side. Not that he wasn't any less annoying; he just annoyed me with good advice. Besides, it's not as if I was actually going to try his suggestions. It was just interesting, that's all. Keeping with my tone of nothing but intellectual interest, I asked him, "And… what about Felicity? What's your _expert_ opinion on her?" I added. Sarcastically. Of course.

He stopped walking for a moment to beam at me, which I returned with a scowl, before informing me, "She seems to be well trained, though somewhat stuck up, then again I suppose I've never met a modest Meowth. She still sees herself as better than you though, so work on putting her in her place on the pecking order. Her attacks are strong enough," he mused to himself, "you mentioned you got her as a gift? That's probably why she doesn't see you as her master just yet."

I repressed a shudder, "Yeah, I suppose that makes sense," before catching myself and adding, "Probably all wrong though. Just how long have you been training that you think you know my pokemon better than me?"

For a moment his smile faltered, and he gave me a look, almost as if he was suspicious, but it was back in a moment, so fast I doubted I'd even seen anything. "I turned eighteen about two months ago, but I've been around pokemon all my life. My mother was in the breeding business, so I saw her with all different types of pokemon. I suppose after a while you just learn to pick things up." He shrugged then walked ahead, lost in his own thoughts and seemingly ending the conversation.

Fine by me, like I needed help from a guy who looked like he had a wet Jigglypuff on his head anyway. Unconsciously, I patted Artemis's pokeball, eyeing off the odd tree as I walked.

We made good time after that, hitting the rangers' cabin at the edge of the forest just before sunset. Cooper went off to talk to some old friend of his after we set up our camp around a fire pit. I picked up Artemis's pokeball and pondered what Cooper had told me earlier. It's true that she was unusually aggressive for a trained pokemon (probably another little gift from Professor Oak), and often had trouble focusing her confusion and supersonic attacks, I'd also never guessed that she trusted me like he'd said. I contemplated what would happen if she stayed that way for my whole training career, I mean, sure, she'd be a good battler, but I wouldn't be able to let her out of her ball for anything else. I'd never be able to take up any side jobs available to trainers, but perhaps most worrisome of all, I'd never be able to trust her to have my back.

I made a decision that night, and released my Venonat. She looked around, and then up at me before the light of the fire drew all her attention and she hopped over to it transfixed. I sighed then pulled up the rock I was sitting on beside her, and though she didn't make any indication of it, I knew she was listening to me. "So that wasn't a very good battle today hunh?" She remained silent. "I'm sorry for throwing you into the situation like that, before introducing you to Felicity," at the Meowth's name Artemis turned to me and made an angry screeching sound, before returning her attention to the fire.

"Yeah, you don't really like her I suppose. But you're going to have to work out whatever problem is between you two out, because I am your trainer and you are my pokemon. Both of you. That means we're all a team." If Artemis agreed or disagreed with me was a mystery, as not even the Oracle of Delphi, would have been able to read my pokemon. Cooper maybe, that smug, ridiculous looking bastard. "What I really wanted to talk to you about was your confusion and supersonic attacks. We need to work on fine tuning your aim a bit. Together. That means no more going off alone to hunt, and no more picking fights with pokemon unless I tell you to."

I knew she couldn't have been happy with this, so adding a little bit of manipulation, I ended the conversation with, "I know you probably don't trust me right now, and I haven't really done anything to earn it, but I will. We're partners, and if you need me I'll do anything for you, I just hope someday you'll come to trust me the same way." She turned to me, meeting my eyes with the direct middle of her compound eyes, and chirruped. Before head-butting me in the face and hopping around to the other side of the fire, chirruping the whole way, no doubt along the lines of 'manipulative son of a bitch, thinks he can fool me, stupid annoying trainer, try that again and ill show him what's up!' or something like that. Perhaps my manipulating skills needed a little work, but still, the message got through and she agreed. That much I had figured out.

A few metres back, a pink haired attention whore watched, with a broad smile on his face. "There may be hope for you yet Nat." He muttered, before turning towards the forest and stalking off to do his business.

And that's the story of how my Pokemon met for the first time.


	5. A Bittersweet Derailing

Have you ever been to a restaurant that was really dirty and dimly lit and the food was disgusting and the service was terrible and thought, 'What a shithole!"?

What about a hair salon where the only hairstyle they cut was cornrows, even though all you really wanted was a nice trim to neaten up your hair, but the snooty, bitch hairdresser insisted upon giving you cornrows that end up looking horrible?

Then perhaps you'd know what travelling through Viridian Forest with Cooper was like for me.

No wait. That's too kind.

Imagine you're at a ball game, except all the players are Clefairy and instead of playing they all just dance around holding hands singing their annoying fucking song, before they proceed to touch each other inappropriately, right in the stand in front of you, and though you try to look away all you can see in your mind are throbbing, gyrating, pink pokemon phalluses, sullying your thoughts and invading your mind!

That's what travelling with Cooper felt like. One time I even told him that his presence always brought images of erect pink cocks to my mind. He just beamed at me, and decided to make orgasm sounds for the rest of the day.

Back to the story at hand, Viridian Forest (for the uneducated among you), had once been the most dangerous place in all of Kanto, inhabited by the most powerful pokemon in the region, due to its nigh impregnable tree line. For decades new trainers (and old ones too) were warned against travelling through it, told instead to take the much more picturesque Mt Moon to get to Pewter. It wasn't until a new Champion took power, about 50 years ago, and single handed, gouged a path through the forest, setting up ranger patrols and finally allowing travel between Pewter and Viridian that the forest saw human visitation. This was to be the first of many reforms the young champion would make before finally ceding the throne and settling down to open up a pokemon lab in Pallet.

The now traversable Viridian swiftly became the favoured route for trainer circuits, both due to its access to one of the badge cities and also due to the variety of rare and powerful pokemon often found off the beaten path, however even the great Samuel Oak hadn't managed to fully tame the forest. It still had the highest death rate for trainers in all of Kanto, and the rangers stationed along the border feared to visit certain parts of the forest. Ancient hollows, unsullied by man's eyes for millennia.

So of course on my first trek through Viridian Forest I found myself in one such hollow, but that's a little ahead yet.

The first few weeks of the forest has been uneventful enough, Cooper and I had stuck to the path quite religiously, and the grim environment seemed to put a damper on Cooper's mood, meaning any conversation we had was curt and to the point. It was like a dream come true.

When we stopped to sleep, he kept his Psyduck on watch, along with Artemis, whilst we ate our cold rations then bedded down. I had even attempted to train with Artemis a couple times but the muggy silence really seemed to drain enthusiasm. It was so bad that I had suspected there were ghost pokemon following us, feeding off our energy, but Cooper just flashed one of his now rare smiles, and told me he'd know if that were the case. Even still, I always looked over my shoulder and refused to go take a piss unless Artemis came along too. Just in case.

Cooper would always laugh at me when I returned, but even these seemed hollow and forced. There was no way around it; Viridian Forest was just a scary place.

A couple times when we stopped for the day I would consider releasing Felicity, but I was somewhat reluctant to see her again, until I had worked out a plan to get her to respect me. Besides she wouldn't have found much enjoyment in this environment anyway.

And so it continued that way until about halfway by Cooper's 'internal navigational system', which is just pretentious talk for 'blind fucking guess'. We'd been walking for about 3 hours when Cooper stiffened, holding up his hand. A little shocked by the evident fear on his face, I complied.

Minutes ticked by, and I drew breath to tell him off, when I was tackled around the waist into the undergrowth by none other than the pink dick himself!

I had barely managed to grumble "Whaddya doin-"when his hand came up and covered my mouth. Fortunately I'd seen enough movies to know that when your experienced, albeit extravagant and annoying, guide tries to keep you quiet in one of the most dangerous places in Kanto, you damned well bite your tongue.

Just as well I had, for no less than a few seconds later, a man came stumbling down the path, from the direction we were heading, panting heavily and screaming for help. I was wondering who he was calling to, when it hit me like a water gun! My backpack was on the path right next to our hiding place! I must have dropped it there when Cooper tackled me!

The man, who by now had reached my pack, looked around him, but somehow didn't see us through the foliage, perhaps because Cooper was right on top of me, and his outfit seemed to blend seamlessly with the environment.

Knowing the danger was nothing more than a lone ranger (for by this point I noticed he was wearing the uniform), I made to get up, only to be stopped by Cooper's ironclad grip on me. Once again, my delayed decision to talk saved our lives, as just before I could protest to my entrapment, I heard a buzzing.

Correction, I heard _the _buzzing.

In Viridian Forest, one of the most common forms of death is caused by Beedrill. The persistent pokemon seemed to enjoy setting up their hives closer to the path than any other pokemon. I think it's out of spite for humans. That's what I'd do if I was a Beedrill.

When you were travelling Viridian Forest, there was one thing that even the lowliest of uninformed trainers knew, and that was 'Buzzing = Bad'.

It seemed, however, that the injured ranger had been too engrossed in looking for us that he failed to notice the buzzing until the source of said noise was bearing down on him. He tried to get up and run but my pack, which had led to him being distracted now wanted to be the source of his downfall, entangling itself in his legs and tripping him up.

I couldn't see much from my vantage point with Cooper on top of me, but I certainly heard it, which is somewhat of an unfortunate miracle itself considering the deafening buzzing that overruled everything else. Screams of fear turned to screams of pain, which eventually became blood gurgled cries and finally nothing. Nothing but buzzing. Then a strange squelching sound that I didn't realise until later was the sound of the ranger being torn apart to be more easily carried away to the hive.

We didn't move an inch throughout the entire process, though I could feel my own heart thumping a conga beat against Cooper's chest, and his own heart returning in kind. Even after all the buzzing had died down to be replaced once more by the omnipresent silence, we didn't move.

I'm not sure how much longer we stayed that way, until Cooper wordlessly lifted himself up and walked back to the path, and I followed suit.

What remained was a bloodied mess of clothes and whatever gore the Beedrill hadn't taken with them. On top of my fucking backpack.

"Guess I won't be using _that _backpack anymore." I muttered to myself, just out of habit. Cooper chuckled to himself nervously and flashed me the first genuine smile of our trek through the forest. I smiled back, but I couldn't stop thinking about the new side to Cooper I'd seen today.  
_  
He'd let a man get gored to death by a swarm of Beedrill.  
_  
My false smile faltered.  
_  
And so had I._

* * *

We decided to backtrack a bit before settling down to camp. Or rather, _Cooper _did. I was still replaying the events over in my head and unable to process much. Cooper had to shove some of his food rations into my mouth himself to get me to snap out of it and eat. When had it gotten so dark? I didn't even notice.

"You need to eat, to help break out of shock." Cooper muttered around a mouthful of jerky.

Thankfully I was hungry enough to be able to eat without feeling sick.

Cooper came and sat next to me. I shuffled away a bit and was met with an, almost contained, sigh.

"Are you angry with me?"

"No."

"If we'd moved to help him, we'd be dead right now."

"I know."

Silence.

Cooper was in the process of moving when I finally managed to form a sentence, "Does that…" I faltered, took a breath and tried again, "Does that sort of thing happen often in the wild?"

Relief was apparent on his face as he sat back down next to me. I didn't shuffle away this time.

"In some places", he began cautiously, "But you already knew that I'm sure."

I did, but just hearing Cooper talk about something was better than the silence.

He continued on, "though it shouldn't have happened on the path, and a ranger certainly shouldn't have been caught out like that, usually its unprepared trainers." He cracked a grin. Forced, but still there, before joking, "The ones that aren't lucky enough to have handsome guides, that is."

I just stared back into his eyes and deadpanned, "So why did that happen then?"

His smile dropped faster than a Snorlax off a cliff.

"I don't know."

I think those three words scared me more than all the Beedrill swarms in the world.

Once more he smiled again, just as a nervous habit, "So I don't think we'll be taking the main path anymore. Fortunately for you, I happen to know a bunch of less travelled routes, that'll both save us time and help us avoid a painful death at the hands of small winged demons. We'll just have to be, like, _super_ cautious, and avoid unnecessary chit-chat."

I didn't even have the energy to make some snappy retort.

We shared a sleeping bag that night. I'd like to think it's because mine was inside my pack which I had been reluctant to touch, but I don't think either of us had wanted to sleep alone after the day we'd had.

I did manage to get some small sense of normalcy when Artemis found both of us together to be too big of a target to resist aggressing with that pokefucking torch. And I found no small amount of satisfaction to see the obvious discomfort on Coopers face, whose response to my grin was to tickle me relentlessly, until tears streamed from my eyes. My loyal pokemon ever vigilant just watched this torture unfold without batting a metaphorical eyelid.

It was nice, if a bit strained, but it was exactly what we needed to fall asleep.

* * *

A quick breakfast of snack bars and berries was the only reprieve awaiting us as we woke up. Well, that and the satisfying _'oof' _sound I managed to extract from Artemis when I "tripped" and landed on her.

The events of yesterday hovered over us like a pink Donphan, coming to the forefront of my mind when I was forced to deal with my stinking bag. Acutely aware of Cooper's eyes on me, I ignored his offer to sort through it for me, with commendable fortitude, and forced myself not to gag as I dumped the contents on the ground.

Most of the outside stuff was ruined and stuck together with gore, however some of my covered food and money was still useable, and though my sleeping bag was a bit funky smelling, I was damned if I was going to ask Cooper to share his sleeping bag again.

All in all I managed to salvage about 3 days' worth of food, all of my money, most of my potions and pokeballs and a disgusting, sticky sleeping bag. I buried the rest.

Cooper walked up behind me while I was burying it all, to be roughly shooed away. I didn't need his fucking pity. So with nothing to do he busied himself with his maps, no doubt trying to find the safest and quickest route for us.

Holding all my stuff in my hands, I walked right up to him and dumped it in his lap. "We're going to need to find food on the way, because I only have enough for 3 more days."

He pulled a face, trying to avoid any contact with my sleeping bag, and responded "I've been looking at our options, and without the main path, it could take us at the very least a fortnight to get out of here, unless…" He trailed off as he ordered his Psyduck to hose down my sleeping bag.

I waited for him to finish out of courtesy, and accepted his offer to have Homer wash down my hands too, which had been sticky ever since I sorted through my pack.

After returning his Psyduck, he took out his map and motioned for me to come closer, "Unless we want to take some risks." He finished. With his finger he traced out the main path that we had been planning to take, "The original path isn't actually a straight beeline to Pewter like most people believe, it goes direct from Viridian, however just before reaching Pewter it takes a massive beeline and curves around, ending up much further east of the city than it needs to." He indicated the beeline which rapped around a circular area of his map that had been coloured a darker green than the rest of the forest.

I motioned for him to continue, which he obliged, "It seems even Samuel Oak knew there were some parts of the forest that he shouldn't fuck with, and so when he created the path, he curved to the right so as to avoid one of these places."

"Thanks for the history lesson, but we're burning heavily filtered, dim forest light here"

Nodding to himself, Cooper traced an alternate route with his finger from our location to the start of the beeline, "For whatever reason it seems a Beedrill hive has taken up residence on the main path somewhere ahead of us, so I suggest we continue on, adjacent to the path, but far enough away that we won't run into any little bugsies," he continued tracing a path with his finger, up until the dark green zone, before making a beeline in the opposite direction of the main path.

"Why do we need to go around this dark green area anyway?"

Smiling his equivalent of a withering look, Cooper looked me right in the eyes, "You're suggesting we try and travel through the part of the forest that Samuel Oak avoided in his prime?"

I blinked. "Point taken."

Cooper returned his attention to the map, tracing a path around the western perimeter of the dark zone, before heading north and skirting the eastern perimeter of yet another dark green zone, this one bigger than the last. "It's quite unknown, the rangers don't even have it on any maps, but there's a small path that heads around the other side of the dark zone, and almost directly to Pewter. The reason its untraveled has largely to do with the massive 'fuck you' of danger that comes along with this second dark zone. Even edging around the perimeter is a massive gamble, but if we can make it past there, it's quite literally a direct route to Pewter."

I examined his face as I asked, "Have you ever taken this path before?"

His eye twitched, before he looked up at me and grinned, "Once. Just once. But it'll save us over a week in travel time."

I realised that I had become familiar enough with Cooper to know when he was grinning out of fear, and felt a strange mix of pride and self loathing, "Can't we just ration our food and hunt for it on the main path?" I queried.

His grin widened. My stomach dropped.

"We could," He started, "But if there's rangers being attacked by Beedrill on the main path of all places, then it means something's going on. Something that I'd rather try to avoid at all costs."

I looked down at the dark green zone. "At all costs," I murmured.

And that's the story of how Cooper and I decided to enter the heart of Viridian.


End file.
